Nature News: Neighbourhood (bird)watch
Posted on 3 May, 2016 by Connecting Country
On page 16 of this week’s Midland Express newspaper (3 May 2016), you’ll see the fourth in our monthly series of Nature News articles. Local amateur naturalist and Connecting Country staff member, Naomi Raftery, has written a delightful piece on her discovery of our local frogs: A beginner naturalist discovers frogs.
In April, our Nature News article was written by new resident to Castlemaine, Benjamin Boxshall, who shared his experience of learning about the local wildlife to be found in the heart of town – and the joy of sharing the discoveries with new neighbours. His article is below if you missed out.
Common Bronzewing. Photo: Geoff Park
One of the exciting things about being new resident in a new location is the process of familiarising ourselves with the local wildlife. Observing the comings and goings of our local fauna is one of the great joys of living with a ‘sense of place’ even if it’s often done from the kitchen window or the front porch.
It is really rewarding to note the arrivals and departures that occur with changes in weather and seasons. Along with our resident comedian magpie chick, we’ve had a proud male bronzewing strutting around our backyard in recent weeks. Often before we are even out of bed we can note the arrival of a newcomer to the neighbourhood with the sound of an unfamiliar call in the otherwise familiar soundscape. It can take us several weeks to identify the bird responsible, but we really enjoy the suspense and the satisfaction of naming our bird!
It also pays to look up! It’s no wonder our neighbours’ colony of blackbirds often look nervous. Driving home recently we were stunned to see a collared sparrowhawk intercept a blackbird on the wing, snatching it in flight, and awkwardly carrying it across in front of our car to perch in a street tree to finish the job.
White-throated Needletails. Photo Geoff Park
In the last few weeks we’ve been very excited to see white-throated needletails – or needletail swifts – hunting insects high over our house at dusk. They are a truly impressive sight – precise, aerodynamic hunters that apparently conduct their courtship on the wing, and can reach speeds of up to 150km per hour. Also known as storm birds, they will leave our skies over the coming weeks and migrate north to the bright-blue skies of Mongolia and Siberia.
Other highlights have included watching a harrier cruising over the backyard, apparently oblivious to the protestations of the resident wattlebirds, and the discovery of a family of micro bats living under the metal cap of our power pole. We have watched up to a dozen of these little bats emerging one at a time from their unlikely hiding place on a number of evenings now.
There are great rewards that can come from being tuned in to nature. But such stories are best enjoyed when they are shared. At our recent street Christmas party we found ourselves deep in conversation with our new neighbours about gardens, birds, bats and bluetongues. Whilst we’d already started identifying and listing the birds we’d seen around home, we were assured that there were more bird species to discover. We learned there were striated pardalotes nesting at the house on the corner, and were told to expect to see eastern spinebills in the months ahead. So we’re now starting a street bird list to encourage all our neighbours to tune in and share stories.
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